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title: "FreeBSD 4.9 Release Process"
sidenav: download
---

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<h1>Introduction</h1>

<p>This is a specific schedule for the release of FreeBSD 4.9.  For
  more general information about the release engineering process,
  please see the <a href="../../../releng/index.html" shape="rect">Release
  Engineering</a> section of the web site.</p>

<p>General discussions about the release engineering process or
  quality assurance issues should be sent to the public <a href="mailto:FreeBSD-qa@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">freebsd-qa</a> mailing list.
  <a href="../../../doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/books/faq/misc.html#DEFINE-MFC" shape="rect">MFC</a>
  requests should be sent to <a href="mailto:re@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">re@FreeBSD.org</a>.</p>

<h1>Schedule</h1>

<table class="tblbasic">
  <tr><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Action</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Expected</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Actual</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Description</td>
      </tr>
  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Reminder announcement</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">28&nbsp;Jul&nbsp;2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">28&nbsp;Jul&nbsp;2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release Engineers send announcement email to
      <tt>developers@FreeBSD.org</tt> with a rough schedule for the FreeBSD
      4.9 release.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Another Reminder announcement</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18&nbsp;Aug&nbsp;2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18&nbsp;Aug&nbsp;2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">1 week reminder.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Another Reminder announcement</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">24&nbsp;Aug&nbsp;2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">24&nbsp;Aug&nbsp;2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Final reminder, with exact time (GMT) that freeze begins.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">4.9-PRERELEASE Testing Guide published</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25 Aug 2003</td><td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">A <a href="../../../releases/4.9R/qa.html" shape="rect">testing guide</a>
      should be published with information about recent changes and
      areas of the system that should be thoroughly tested during the
      pre-release/RC period.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>4.9-PRERELEASE</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25 Aug 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25 Aug 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>newvers.sh</tt>, and <tt>release.ent</tt> updated.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">FTP site updated</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25 Aug 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25 Aug 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>pkg_add -r</tt> works for <tt>4.9-PRERELEASE</tt> machines.</td>
  </tr>
  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Code freeze begins</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25 Aug 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">25 Aug 2003</td>

    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">After this date, all commits to the <tt>RELENG_4</tt> branch
      must be approved by <a href="mailto:re@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">re@FreeBSD.org</a>.  Certain highly
      active documentation committers are exempt from this rule for
      routine man page / release note updates.  Heads-up emails
      should be sent to the <tt>developers@</tt>, <tt>stable@</tt> and <tt>qa@</tt> lists.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>4.9-RC</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">12 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">28 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>newvers.sh</tt> and <tt>release.ent</tt> updated.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Announce the Ports Freeze</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">19 Aug 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">19 Aug 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Someone from <tt>portmgr@</tt> should email
    <tt>freebsd-ports@</tt> and BCC: <tt>developers@</tt> to set a date
    for the week long ports freeze and tagging of the ports tree.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">First release candidate</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">12 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">28 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The first release candidate for the x86 and Alpha architecture is
      released.  ISO images should be uploaded to
      <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org</tt> and
    <tt>releng4.FreeBSD.org</tt>.  A network install directory should
    be uploaded to <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org</tt>.  The
    <tt>packages/</tt> directory should be a <em>relative</em> symlink,
    as described in the releng article.  Send a note to
    <a href="mailto:mirror-announce@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">mirror-announce@FreeBSD.org</a>
    saying a "Normal Release Cycle" is beginning, RC ISOs and install
    directories will be coming through the next few weeks.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Heads up to <tt>-stable</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">12 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">28 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">A message should be sent to <tt>qa@FreeBSD.org</tt> and
    <tt>stable@FreeBSD.org</tt> after the snapshot is uploaded.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Second release candidate</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">17 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">8 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Note: the release date of this candidate depends on the user
    experience with RC1.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Third release candidate</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">17 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"></td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Ports tree frozen</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">10 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">10 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Only approved commits will be permitted to the <tt>ports/</tt>
      tree during the freeze.</td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Announce <tt>doc/</tt> tree slush</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">17 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Notification of the impending <tt>doc/</tt> tree slush should
      be sent to <tt>doc@</tt>.</td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>doc/</tt> tree slush</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Non-essential commits to the <tt>en_US.ISO8859-1/</tt> subtree
      should be delayed from this point until after the <tt>doc/</tt>
      tree tagging, to give translation teams time to synchronize
      their work.</td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Ports tree tagged</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">23 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">24 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>RELEASE_4_9_0</tt> tag for <tt>ports/</tt>.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Ports tree unfrozen</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">After the <tt>ports/</tt> tree is tagged,
      the <tt>ports/</tt> tree will be re-opened for commits, but
      commits made after tagging will not go in 4.9-RELEASE.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Final package build starts</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">19 Sep 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">10 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The ports cluster and <a href="http://bento.FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">bento</a>
    build final packages.</td>
  </tr>


  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>doc/</tt> tree tagged.</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">20 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">21 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Version number bumps for <tt>doc/</tt> subtree.
      <tt>RELEASE_4_9_0</tt> tag for <tt>doc/</tt>.  <tt>doc/</tt>
      slush ends at this time.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>RELENG_4_9</tt> branch</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">22 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The release branch is created.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Note to freebsd-stable@</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">23 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">A note should be sent to the freebsd-stable@ list to let
    over-anxious users know that the tags have been created but the
    release still isn't ready.  Tags may be slid before the
    announcement goes out.  Point users to freebsd-qa@ for
    details.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Version numbers bumped.</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">The files listed <a href="../../../doc/en_US.ISO8859-1/articles/releng/article.html#VERSIONBUMP" shape="rect">here</a>
    are updated to reflect the fact that this is FreeBSD 4.9.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Update man.cgi on the website.</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">18 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">19 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Make sure the 4.9 manual pages are being displayed by default
    for the man-&gt;web gateway.  Also make sure these man pages are
    pointed to by docs.xml.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">src tree tagged.</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">21 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1"><tt>RELENG_4_9_0_RELEASE</tt> tag for <tt>src/</tt>.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Final builds.</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">21 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Final builds for x86 and Alpha in a pristine environment.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Warn <tt>mirror-announce@FreeBSD.org</tt></td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">21 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Heads up email to <a href="mailto:mirror-announce@FreeBSD.org" shape="rect">mirror-announce@FreeBSD.org</a>
      to give admins time to prepare for the load spike to come.  The
      site administrators have frequently requested advance notice for
      new ISOs.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Upload to <tt>ftp-master</tt>.</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">21 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Release (and packages?) uploaded to <tt>ftp-master.FreeBSD.org</tt></td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Announcement</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">23 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Announcement sent out after a majority of the mirrors have
    received the bits.</td>
  </tr>

  <tr>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Unfreeze the tree</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">23 Oct 2003</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">--</td>
    <td rowspan="1" colspan="1">Announcement to <tt>developers@</tt> explaining that the release is
     out, and commits to <tt>RELENG_4</tt> no longer require approval.  Also
     note the policy for commits to the <tt>RELENG_4_9</tt> branch.</td>
  </tr>


</table>

<h1>Additional Information</h1>

<ul>
  <li><a href="../todo/" shape="rect">FreeBSD 4.9 developer todo list.</a></li>
  <li><a href="../qa/" shape="rect">FreeBSD 4.9 Quality Assurance Guide.</a></li>
  <li><a href="../../../releng/index.html" shape="rect">FreeBSD Release Engineering website.</a></li>
  <li><a href="../../../projects/busdma/index.html" shape="rect">FreeBSD busdma driver project page.</a></li>
</ul>


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